Measuring his own strength against this world’s standards, shouldn’t Lucian count as Rank 2 now?
The strength Ranks here were divided crudely from one to ten, but each stage had its own defining features.
Rank 1: building a foundation, conditioning the body, or learning Meditation techniques, where most students were.
Rank 2: formal entry, gaining command of energy or a few basic Spell techniques.
Rank 3: proficient in one’s techniques, with aura formed inside the body, or dense mana and command of some Elementary Spells.
Rank 4: externalizing aura, or the ability to unleash Intermediate magic.
Rank 5: the power within the body starts to change in nature: aura takes on physical shape, or one masters multiple elements to cast Advanced magic.
Rank 6: already strong enough to found a sect.
Rank 7: capable of wielding a Domain or raising one’s own magic barrier.
Ranks 8, 9, and 10 were considered transcendent, god-like existences.
The details were unknown, nothing a student like Lucian could ever come into contact with.
Lucian was currently Rank 2, since he had no aura in his body yet.
As for force-exertion techniques and the like, he’d already mastered those completely a moment ago.
Turning it over in his mind, he kept walking toward school.
If he wanted to keep getting stronger, it seemed he’d need a method to train aura.
Still pondering, Lucian soon reached the school.
Many classmates had already arrived, and he even spotted a fair number of students carrying weapons.
Bringing weapons to school like this would have been unimaginable in his past life, but here it was perfectly normal.
Following his memory, Lucian entered the building and quickly found his class and his seat.
The classroom was already fairly full.
He could put names to most of them from memory, though whether any of them recognized him was another matter.
The original owner of this body had been an extreme recluse in class, rarely interacting with anyone.
After observing for a while, Lucian pulled back his thoughts and turned to the books in front of him.
Cultural courses were finished off in middle school.
By high school, everything taught revolved around the martial and magical arts.
The books in front of him were exactly that sort, things like Meditation for Mages, A True Explanation of Martial Arts, and a Monster Encyclopedia.
Lucian picked up the one on mages and started reading.
He didn’t much care about the class placement.
Martial Artist or mage, either was fine; and with his Talent, there was no way Lucian would ever be confined to a single system.
As long as it was useful, he figured he could learn it.
It was all in service of getting stronger.
Flipping through the book, Lucian gradually came to understand Meditation.
With the help of that powerful Talent, the contents were absorbed almost at once.
He quickly grasped what Meditation was actually for.
His Talent was even more terrifying than he’d imagined.
Whether it was written in a book or demonstrated by someone else, as long as he’d seen it, Lucian could master it with ease.
At that thought, he closed his eyes and began to Meditate.
The original hadn’t meant to walk the mage’s path, so the memories in his head were mostly about Martial Artists.
But Lucian didn’t care about that now; if it was power, he wanted all of it.
Meditation kicked in, and a thread of power slowly seeped into his body from the air.
Before long he felt it, mana beginning to gather within him.
It was very slow, yet it still left him pleasantly surprised.
“Is my magic Talent really this strong?” A flicker of strangeness crossed Lucian’s eyes.
By the books, sensing mana took a very long time.
Someone with good Aptitude might need a week; someone with poor Aptitude, far longer.
And Lucian?
He’d only just begun and had already sensed it.
Interesting.
His magic Talent was better than he’d thought.
Or perhaps it was these eyes of his?
Either way, it could only be a good thing.
With that in mind, Lucian kept Meditating to build up his mana; a world like this gave him no sense of safety at all.
Time slipped by as he Meditated, and his classmates trickled in one after another.
As more and more arrived, the room grew noisy, forcing Lucian to stop.
Meditation was too much trouble without a quiet environment.
He’d look into it properly when he got home tonight.
Next he had to deal with the coming class placement, and, at the same time, the matter of his own Talent.
Revealing the Eye of Revelation in full would be far too alarming, so Lucian would keep part of it hidden.
But he wouldn’t hide all of it.
Play weak to lure in the strong?
Don’t joke.
Lucian wouldn’t do that.
Act helpless long enough and you really do end up helpless.
So he needed to show off his Talent to just the right degree; only that way could he secure more benefits for himself.
In a world like this, not competing simply handed opportunities to others.
Lucian would still fight for what was his; school resources were limited.
Don’t fight for them, and you were just giving them away.
Lucian understood that perfectly, so when it counted, he still had to put some of his Talent on display.
He’d simply declare it a learning Talent, say, something that sharply boosted his study speed.
The specifics, though, he’d keep vague; exactly how strong the Talent was would be entirely up to Lucian to decide.
This was only the most basic function of the Eye of Revelation, and it was already enough to handle everything on the school’s end.
A learning Talent, wasn’t that exactly what a school wanted?
Decision made, Lucian waited quietly.
Since he had so little of a social life, his classmates didn’t really talk to him.
Whether the student in front or the one behind, everyone treated Lucian as invisible, which he was happy to enjoy as peace and quiet.
Even so, from the chatter among the students, Lucian picked up a good deal of information, such as what Talents they’d Awakened.
People this age couldn’t keep a secret.
The moment they Awakened a Talent, they couldn’t wait to tell everyone.
Some had Awakened Talents suited to a Martial Artist, some to a mage, and some had Talents suited to any path at all.
That last group was showing off like mad.
Listening to it, Lucian formed a rough picture of his classmates.
This “Talent” thing seemed to be something everyone had.
He hadn’t heard a single person say they’d failed to Awaken; it was only ever a question of good or bad.
Lucian listened quietly for a while, and at last the bell rang.
The teacher walked in from outside with a stack of documents.
The instant the teacher entered, the class went silent; everyone knew what was about to happen today.
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